Six people in 2 families displaced by Auburn fire

An excavator sifts through the rubble of a 2 family home at 220 Gamage Avenue in Auburn Wednesday to help inspectors determine the origin of early morning fire that destroyed a two-family apartment. Several residents were examined at the scene for smoke inhalation but did not require hospitalization. Several pets were rescued. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Brad Sloat, right, talks to firefighters Wednesday morning about the condition of the house he owns at 220 Gamage Avenue. Firefighters were still hosing down hot spots after 9 a.m. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)

Auburn firefighters put out a fire Wednesday morning on Gamage Street. A woman was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. (Auburn Fire Department photo)

AUBURN — A fire that destroyed a two-family home on Gamage Avenue on Wednesday morning appeared to be accidental, but officials continued to search for a cause.

Six people were evaluated at the scene for smoke inhalation, fire investigator David O”Connell said. Some were treated for minor injuries.

“The good thing was there were smoke alarms inside the building and they alerted the tenants,” he said.

Firefighters recovered a family cat as they searched the house.

The blaze started in the back of the attached barn and worked its way toward the front of the building, O’Connell said. The second floor and a chimney collapsed.

First-floor tenants carried renter’s insurance, but the second-floor tenants did not, he said.

Brad Sloat, the building’s owner, said the building was unsafe and an excavator will take down what was left. There were antique cars in the garage, but Sloat said he didn’t know if they could be recovered.